Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Papa Roach, Reno, on the road but not far from home, and tonight, we're all family

Jacoby Shaddix, Papa Roach, Reno NV

One thing was really clear during Papa Roach's show at the Lawlor Event Center in Reno, NV last week: they are much loved by the local family, and that showed in the entire performance. (And by "local", I mean Vacaville in Northern California stretching through Sacramento and right up to Reno, as there were family and friends who had made the jump up to see Jacoby Shaddix and the band, as well as the truly-local-down-the-street Reno fans.)

A happy family, and for one evening, we were all within the embrace, the whole crowd, everyone in the audience, and maybe all of Reno, too.

Jacoby Shaddix, Papa Roach, Reno, NV

I last saw Papa Roach at Aftershock in 2013, in Sacramento, on home turf, under the hot, hot September sun. It was a love-fest, until, of course, the Wall of Death, when the crowd splits in two and then runs into each other. For those readers who haven't (yet) been to a metal festival or a Papa Roach show, the Wall of Death is like a circle pit, but in straight lines. OK... That description doesn't help? Think huge Black Friday shopping crowds waiting for shops to open on opposite sides of the same street, with doors unlocked at exactly the same moment, and everyone running to feed the shopping frenzy right NOW. That image work? That's the Wall of Death, but the feeling is much more satisfying than a cheap TV: the crowd divides, like the parting of the sea, and then... SMASH.

If you think for a moment that the band doesn't care about people being hurt, forget that. It's all good fun, intense, good, fun. At one point Jacoby noticed someone in the audience needed help, and stopped, mid-song, until they were helped out and able to give the metal horns salute to show all was well: back to the crazy crowd that is a Papa Roach show.

But it wasn't all mosh pits and heavy: a lovely acoustic version of Scars, played from the crowd, and Maria Brink of In This Moment joined the band on stage for Gravity. (But I'd like to bet that for much of the audience, the earworm the next morning, even after all these years, is still Last Resort... it's kinda persistent.)

The latest album, and ninth studio album, from Papa Roach, F.E.A.R, was released early this year and is available in both CD and vinyl from the band's website, as well as your usual music outlets.

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